Diamondbacks 2023 Player Reviews: Tommy Henry

The left-hander showed growth before his season was cut short by injury.

This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a surprising and marvelous year for the team as they won 84 games to make the postseason. They advanced all the way to Game Five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at-bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR (average WAR-Wins Above Replacement) produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.

Henry's 2023 was a solid improvement / Alex D'Agostino

The Diamondbacks drafted left-hander Tommy Henry out of the University of Michigan in 2019. In August of 2022, he saw his first major league action. The young lefty struggled in his debut, but was able to string together multiple one-run performances in his first month with Arizona. He started nine games in his first year, pitching 47 total innings and ending with an unimpressive 5.36 ERA.

With Henry's struggles late in 2022, the D-backs elected to keep the young starter in AAA to begin the 2023 season and put their faith in right-handers Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson. Henry started four games with the Reno Aces, ending his minor league season with a 6.33 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in the small sample size. Late in April, Jameson was sent back to AAA, and the D-backs recalled Henry to start against the Kansas City Royals. With a starting rotation and bullpen dominated by right-handers, the D-backs hoped for Henry to bring a different look to their staff. 

But Henry looked shaky again to begin his second major league stint. The left-hander allowed seven runs in his first two starts and walked five batters, while only striking out four in 9 2/3 innings.

Henry began to settle in, however, pitching back-to-back Quality Starts to begin May. He was solid for the rest of the month, even pitching 1 1/3 innings in relief against the Boston Red Sox. His May ERA was a sturdy 2.87, and opponents hit just .214 against him in that time. Henry pitched his best-ever outing against the Colorado Rockies to cap off the solid month, tossing seven shutout innings while allowing only two hits and striking out seven batters--matching his career high at the time.

June began rough, with back-to-back five run performances. Henry, however, once again settled in, allowing just four runs over his next three starts and delivering a stellar one-run, eight-strikeout performance--a new career high--versus the Los Angeles Angels in 5 2/3 innings.

July is when Henry's control began to take a dive again. He walked four batters in multiple starts, with a 10/15 K/BB for the month. However, he would only make four starts in July before landing on the injured list. Unfortunately, that would signal the end of Henry's 2023 campaign.

With so much turmoil surrounding Arizona's pitching situation, the loss hurt them badly. Henry originally landed on the 15-day IL with left elbow inflammation, but was transferred to the 60-day IL in August. Despite Manager Torey Lovullo stating that Henry could potentially return in a bullpen role if the D-backs made a "deep" playoff run, the young left-hander never saw more game action. He did, however, begin throwing again in September and October and faced live batters in an intrasquad matchup.

Although only appearing in 17 games and starting 16, Henry's 2023 season was one of notable improvement. Over 89 innings, Henry finished with a decent 4.15 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, both noticeably better than his previous short season. While not showing particularly flashy numbers, he was more calm and confident throughout most of his second major league stint, and stepped up nicely during right-hander Merrill Kelly's absence on the IL. 

Henry's issues in 2023 mainly came from his difficulty finding the zone. He struggled in the walk department, with a 3.5 BB/9 and a 64/35 K/BB. He ranked well into the bottom half of MLB in BB%. He also struggled to rack up strikeouts with an 11th percentile K%--only a 6.5 K/9. 

While his walks did often put him into big jams, he remarkably was able to escape many of these situations, allowing only a .229 batting average and just two home runs on the season with men on base, per FanGraphs. He was excellent at not allowing hard-hit balls, ranking in the 89th percentile in hard hit % and 73rd in exit velocity. He allowed only 12 home runs on the season.

While his low-90s fastball was on the less effective side, his breaking pitches ranked in the top 10% of the league with a breaking run value of 9 over his shortened season, and he boasted a 74th percentile chase rate. The young left-hander had his share of struggles, but performed very well at times, despite being thrust into a mid-rotation role with injuries to starters Zach Davies and Merrill Kelly and briefly serving as Arizona's #2 starter.

Status and Outlook for 2024

Barring a move for another proven starting pitcher or a setback in his injury, Henry has a good chance to solidify himself as Arizona's 4/5 starter. Thankfully, the young left-hander will avoid surgery, and with Ryne Nelson continuing to struggle, Drey Jameson injured and moved to a bullpen role, and unproven arms like Slade Cecconi and Bryce Jarvis in the mix, signs point to Henry being the one to lock up the final rotation spot in question. His improvement from 2022 to 2023 was notable, especially in the middle portion of his 2023 campaign. Henry's drawn-out innings and walk issues could have been contributing factor to his arm fatigue, and as long as he can improve his control and efficiency, he could become a solid piece in a Diamondbacks rotation that continues to improve as a whole.

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